Pulp frontman will be joined by local musicians for a special performance at the Crucible Theatre

Jarvis Cocker is to perform live in Sheffield at the premiere of new steel documentary The Big Melt this week.

Cocker will perform at his hometown’s Crucible Theatre on the opening night of Sheffield Doc/Fest 2013 on Wednesday, June 12. The Pulp frontman will be joined by local musicians including Richard Hawley, The Forgemasters, a string quartet, a brass band and a children’s choir.

The Big Melt was directed by Martin Wallace, a long-term collaborator of Cocker’s, and tells the story of the Sheffield steel industry using footage from the BFI National Archive. Cocker himself has provided the score to the documentary, whose premiere coincides with the city’s centenary of stainless steel.

Speaking about his role as The Big Melt‘s musical director, Cocker said in a press statement: “Just like Billy Casper told Jud he’d ‘never work down t’pit’, I vowed never to get in all that ‘Sheffield: Steel City’ biz. But guess what? Looking at the BFI’s awesome collection of steel-related films changed my mind. I only hope that we can pay proper homage to the extraordinary individuals featured in this footage. Our aim is to melt faces (& hearts) & to blow minds. With maybe a bit of smelting thrown in for good measure. The jesses are so off.”

Meanwhile, director Martin Wallace added: “We wanted to tell a story about steel that opened out the basic social history and facts about the process itself. There are some awesome BFI archive films that already paint a vivid picture of the real story, so we wanted to drag this archive into the present, re-imagine and invigorate it, turn it into something more fantastical, more playful and, at the same time, more challenging.”

Sheffield Doc/Fest runs from June 12-16, and this year is celebrating its 20th anniversary.